Essays & Musings
What We’ve Been Thinking About
Thoughts on books, reading, culture, and the literary life.
Anyone watching Virgin River?
December 9, 2020While the world is avidly discussing the upcoming Shondaland production of Bridgerton, bazillions of Netflix watchers are already hooked on a series based on a set (21 and counting) of…
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the ask@AAR: Whose story do you long to have told?
December 4, 2020In anticipation of the upcoming Bridgerton show and because The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After was on sale last week, I finally read the latter. (We reviewed it here.) I was…
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A Guest Post by Debbie Baldwin: The Fairytale Conundrum
November 28, 2020Happy Holidays, AAR readers! My name is Debbie Baldwin, and I am the author of the Bishop Security romantic suspense series. The first novel, False Front, is currently available in…
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A Gift List and A Shameless Plea… can you use our link when you shop on Black Friday?
November 26, 2020Black Friday is here and many of you will shop on Amazon. If you do, please consider using the AAR link. As you probably know, AAR gets 4% of certain…
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Romance of the Year? What’s your pick?
November 24, 2020If AAR readers were picking the Goodreads Readers Choice Award for best romance of 2020, you’d pick The Switch by Beth O’Leary. (It’s currently beating Boyfriend Material by two votes…
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World Reading Habits During Covid
November 22, 2020Have you been reading more in 2020? Because of coronavirus and the lockdowns, we’re spending more time at home than we’re used to. For many people, it was the perfect…
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the ask@AAR: Could you forgive this hero?
November 20, 2020It’s always an experience to read Vintage AAR. This article by Paula Detmer Riggs on writing taboo subjects is especially thought-provoking. She wrote about the hero of her book, Her…
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It’s the final round….
November 17, 2020The final round in the Goodreads Choice Awards is up and, guess what guys, it does not include AAR’s most recent winner which, with 16 of the 61 votes cast,…
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It’s the Semi-Final Round at Goodreads and they’ve added books!
November 15, 2020Today is the last day of the semi-final round in the Goodreads Choice Awards and they’ve added books nominated by readers. In our survey, based on the choices in the…
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The ask@AAR: Scruffy or Suited?
November 13, 2020A friend of mine just sent me this article. (Men are shaving less during the pandemic. Women are not.) My instant–and very personal–response, was “Great, just what we need, more…
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WHAT’S IN A NAME?: A guest post by Alexandra Y. Caluen
November 11, 2020“The naming of cats is a difficult matter’ – T.S. Eliot At what point do fictional characters get a name? Generally, it’s when they have to be identified in order…
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Best Jane Austen adaptation?
November 9, 2020I am–and this is embarrassing–finally watching the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. And yes, it does have Colin Firth in a sexy…
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